


Josh + Donna Forever

by tallpeachtreechild



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Best Friends, F/M, Stolen Dialogue, celeste and jesse forever - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25965931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tallpeachtreechild/pseuds/tallpeachtreechild
Summary: It’s the same exact dance they've been dancing since the first campaign and CJ has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. One month in it was cute. One year, and they all thought of it as a tragic love story. Three years and it was starting to become annoying.A fic based on the first scene of the movie "Celeste and Jesse Forever"
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	Josh + Donna Forever

**Author's Note:**

> In some ways Celeste and Jesse remind me of Josh and Donna, while the former are too scared to leave a relationship Josh and Donna are too afraid to start one. You don not need to have watched the movie to get the scene at all although a lot of the dialogue is stolen directly from the script but changed to fit the scene. Comments/Critique always appreciated

CJ has been in Josh’s office a total of four seconds when Donna comes barreling in, pushing the door in without a knock. She barely seems to register CJ resting on the side of Josh’s desk, looking over the latest housing figures, instead staring straight at Josh.

“Where do you want food from tonight- Oh! Hey CJ” she smiles at the other woman for a second before directing her eyesight back to Josh, who still hasn’t looked up from the numbers he's highlighting.

“The Thai place maybe? Or is Sam going to say it's too spicy again”.

“No Sam tonight” She comes over to lean over him, looking over the paper he's scrawling on. “Cutright won’t budge get Thompson” He scratches out the senator's name replacing it.

“Ainsley?” He asks, now handing her the largest files on his desk. “You think that's going to work out?”

“He’s your friend not mine. ”

He looks at her in a knowing expression and she laughs. “No not at all”. It’s the same exact dance they've been dancing since the first campaign and CJ has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. One month in it was cute. One year, and they all thought of it as a tragic love story. Three years and it was starting to become annoying.

“Oh and CJ” He gestures to her. “invited us for drinks at Hawk and Dove but I told her we couldn't go”

“Nooo why not” Donna whines, now sorting through Josh's desk, pushing papers into piles so efficiently CJ wishes she was her assistant instead.

“I've got a meeting with Marcus at 8”

She sticks her tongue out- literally sticks her tongue out at the man, rolling her eyes. The effect is comical but he doesn’t laugh, only giving a light smile. Shaking her hands and muttering something around the lines of ‘insufferable…. Spoilsport” she is about to leave the room until Josh calls back.

“Donna- Thai places doesn't deliver right”

“Shit”

“I’ve got this bill to read”

“My cars towed remember- I’ll read the bill while you drive, I know all the players anyway so I can summarize” Josh contemplates, looking back over at the other stack of paper around his desk and then, evidently deciding that the Thai food is good enough to waste a few minutes driving for, responds.

“Fine but no stops”

“I need to go to the dry cleaners too, have to pick up my dress for the Chinese dinner next week ” she pushes, giving him a frown that would work on anyone, hell, might even work on her. He leans back in his chair, looking away from her face.

“I'm the Deputy Chief of Staff not a taxi service” He deflects although it's a fake out. Of course they’ll be stopping by the dry cleaner; hell, if Donna said she needed to take a quick trip to buy groceries CJ has no doubt Josh would relent.

“And as the deputy chief of staff it’s your job to make sure your assistant looks put together at a state dinner” She retorts.

He rolls his eyes. “Let me finish with CJ and then I’ll meet you out front and we can go” Donna nods, moving over to the filing cabinet to tidy up and CJ wasn’t planning on saying anything, she really wasn’t but then Josh, too busy looking at Donna, spills coffee on the papers she needs for the next press conference and she throws up her hands.

“I can't do this. I just can't.”

Josh looks up, concerned, and CJ wants to stop but she can’t. Sam, Toby, hell even the President have been holding their tongues for years. Somebody has to confront him.

“Are you okay?”

“I can't do this anymore.”

“Is this about Donovan? Because you know you can request a new agent if ”

“Me and Simon? Her voice rises unintentionally. This has nothing to do with her and Simon and besides nothing is happening between them so Josh really, actually has no right in this situation. Not that it’s a situation. “I” She splutters for a second before remembering why she had started on this path in the first place. “No. It's you guys. Seriously. What the fuck are you two doing?”.

Donna looks up from the filing cabinet. Both her and Josh have the exact same looks on their face, red cheeked, eyes wide. She’s seen married couples with less harmony then these two supposed friends, who refuse to act as anything else.

Josh looks over at Donna, then back at CJ, sputtering. “What do you mean?”

“Yeah, what do you mean?” Donna has now come over to stand with Josh, arms crossed, defensive.

“What do I mean?? You work together all day and do the flirty banter thing and then when you have time off you hang out again! But you refuse to admit that you’re together! That’s not normal”

“We’re friends” Donnas ton is defensive and she's frowning.

“Seriously CJ can’t men and women just be friends without everyone thinking they’re dating?” responds Josh and CJ rolls her eyes so hard she's surprised they aren’t permanently stuck to the back of her head.

“Since when have you been a feminist Josh?”

“Hey-” he puts his hands up here “I love women. I’m very Pro woman”

She looks between the two of them, waiting for more. They stay quiet, both blushing, both looking away from each other.

“Whatever” She's giving up. If this can’t get through to them nothing will. Josh and Donna are destined to remain vexed and sexless forever and well- she could honestly say she tried as hard as she could to stop it. “Fax me those housing numbers Josh I’m off to lunch” she exits, with slight embarrassment. She honestly did not know how she had hoped for that to go. It was pretty much as expected now that she thinks about it.

With CJ gone Donna starts away from where she was standing over Josh looking for a paper to file, a post it note to clean up, anything to appear busy. It’s like he had said. Friends.

He makes the first move before she can. “Hey look I’m sorry about CJ. I think she's just like, projecting onto us with the whole workplace romance thing” He jokes and she sighs. They can laugh it off, get back to normal. 

“Since when did you become a psychologist” She's trying to get the banter to work but it feels forced. 

“ It's not weird that we hang out. Do you think it's weird we hang out?”

The straight answer is yes and he knows it, not that she would ever admit it to him, or him to her. Normal assistants and bosses don't drive to get dinner together. They don’t carpool and stop to buy groceries on the way home. Your boss is not supposed to come over to your apartment when you’re sick and watch Bridget Jones's Diary with you. Just like you aren’t supposed to take a day off to help him move into his apartment.

“No, of course not” They sit in silence for a bit more and now she's the one who can't help herself- she blurts it out. “ You're my best Friend Josh”

“You’re mine Donnatella”

She leaves the room not even attempting to hide the smile beaming across her face. 


End file.
